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Golding and Fransen were jailed for 18 weeks and 36 weeks respectively.

As they were sentenced Fransen stated: "This is a very sad day for British justice.

"Britain First supporters in the public gallery shouted at the judge... "disgraceful, you should be ashamed!"

Golding was also found not guilty of a third charge. However, Fransen was convicted of both this charge and a fourth one concerning only her, reported the Daily Mirror .

The pair had earlier arrived at the court, surrounded by a large entourage, with the far-right group's leader flashing the V-sign at cameras.

Golding had been charged with three counts of religiously aggravated harassment, while his deputy was accused of four offences.

The pair had denied all of the charges against them.

But this afternoon, Golding was convicted of one and Fransen was convicted of three counts at the court, where they had earlier stood trial.

In delivering his judgment, the judge said the two defendants were "well-known", "controversial" and "generate their own publicity".

Judge Justin Barron said the court received a number of emails in support of and against Golding and Fransen. But he said his verdicts were based "solely on admissible evidence heard in court".

He told the court the pair's words and actions "demonstrated hostility" towards Muslims and the Muslim faith.

The leader and deputy leader of Britain First were supported at the court (Image: PA)

The public gallery was packed with more than a dozen Britain First supporters as the verdicts were announced.

Golding and Fransen had been arrested in May last year over the distribution of leaflets and posting of online videos during a trial at Canterbury Crown Court, where three Muslim men and a teenager were convicted of rape and jailed.

Fransen was accused of going to the Kent home of one of the defendants, Tamin Rahmani, and shouting racist abuse through the front door.

Rahmani's pregnant partner, Kelli Best, said she was alone with their two children, aged three years and 18 months, at the time of the incident on May 9, 2017.

Two days later, she began bleeding heavily and her daughter was stillborn.

At a previous hearing, Folkestone Magistrates' Court heard that the grieving mum blamed Fransen's racial abuse for the tragedy.

She added: “It made me feel very anxious, I didn’t go outside for a long time. I was also pregnant at the time it happened, two days after I started to bleed heavily and lost my daughter, she was stillborn. I blame Jayda Fransen, there was no other reason for it to happen.”

She said her son still gets scared when anyone knocks on their door.

On a video played in court, Fransen could be seen banging on the door and shouting: "Come out and face me you disgusting rapist, come on."

Fransen denied using the phrase "Muslim b******s", or saying that all Muslims are rapists.

Golding said he was only acting as Fransen's cameraman, and that it was her campaign.

Golding and Fransen are seen arriving at an earlier court hearing in January this year (Image: PA)

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During cross-examination, he described how he handed the camera to the deputy leader and she did all the editing, Kent Live reports

When asked if he agreed with what Fransen did, he replied: "Yes".

Golding said in politics he gets called nasty names all the time - and claimed he had seen far worse from journalists on many occasions.

Both the leader and deputy leader were convicted on a joint charge of religiously-aggravated harassment after an incident on May 5 at 555 Pizza takeaway in Ramsgate last year.

Fransen banged on the windows and doors of the shop and screamed "paedophile" and "foreigner" while two children were playing in the middle of the shop and Jamshed Khesrow, a friend of the owners, was inside, the court heard.

Judge Barron dismissed a second charge against the pair alleged to have taken place outside Canterbury Crown Court later that day.

Fransen was accused of telling Rahmani's brother Faiz that "Muslims are b******s and rapists".

Judge Barron said that section of the conversation was not recorded and the video that was played to the court did not amount to threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour.

Fransen was convicted of abuse after visiting a house she wrongly believed to be the current address of another defendant, Sershah Muslimyar.

But Golding was cleared of uploading a video of this incident.

Fransen was also convicted of a fourth charge against her after visiting the home where Kelli was with her young kids and shouting racist abuse.

Judge Barron said he did "not hear the use of the word scumbag or hear the rattling of the door handle". But he convicted Fransen of the charge of religiously-aggravated harassment.

The judge had earlier said: “I have no doubt that Miss Fransen and Mr Golding demonstrated by their words and actions hostility to those of the Muslim faith.”

The judge blasted the pair for their actions (Image: PA)

He added: “Their intention was to come to Kent to confront the defendants in the rape trial. They were in my judgement hostile to Muslims and immigrants.”

The judge also said it was the "joint intention" of Golding and Fransen "to use the facts of the case (in Canterbury) for their own political ends".

"It was a campaign to draw attention to the race, religion and immigrant background of the defendants," he told the court.

Jaswant Narwal, Chief Crown Prosecutor in the South East for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "The prosecution case demonstrated these defendants were not merely exercising their right to free speech but were instead aiming religiously aggravated abuse at innocent members of the public.

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"The victims suffered the distress of the abuse followed by additional stress when the footage was uploaded to the internet.

"This offending also related to an ongoing criminal trial and the actions taken by Fransen and Golding could easily have derailed the justice process."